In lieu of our regular "Weekly Window" post, which features a photo of the week, we are posting one piece of a new photo puzzle, featuring a shot from Uganda by the photographer Thomas White. The remaining seven puzzle pieces are on our Pinterest and Instagram accounts.
Collect all eight and re-pin (or post) them to your own Pinterest or Instagram account by the end of the week and we will send you an exclusive set of postcards featuring Five Talents photography.
Every week, we do our best to tell you the story of Five Talents, its mission, and the communities where we work.
Much of what you'll find here in the blog and on the Website are summaries of what we do and stories about those who have benefitted from our programs.
However, Web users are increasingly looking for visual storytelling as well.
Perhaps you've already discovered that you can spend hours on a site like Pinterest. Maybe you've downloaded the Instagram app to your smart phone. Both of these exploding platforms are hubs for people who love to share photos – and view them.
That's why, in recent months, Five Talents has made an effort to establish itself on each of these networks. On Instagram, for example, you can find exclusive shots from our program in Uganda by photographer Thomas White. On Pinterest, we have created "pin boards" featuring our favorite books, quotes from the field, and more.
If photography and visual story-telling is your thing, we hope you'll follow us and share our content.
Click here to view our Pinterest boards. If something catches your eye, you can support Five Talents by "liking" and re-pinning the photo on one of your own boards.
If you have a smart phone with iOS or Android, you can download the Instagram application, or "app". Once you've set up your account, you can follow Five Talents and "like" our photos by double-tapping on them.
In the coming months, we plan to leverage these unique platforms for some very cool campaigns – including art contests, virtual puzzles, and more.
Over the next few days, please share the above video on your Facebook page, on Twitter, on Google+, over e-mail -- via whatever means strikes your fancy. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8jJ1-ytBXE
We also need you to do one more important thing: Register with Giving of Life so that you can receive two additional votes. All it takes is 30 seconds to enter your e-mail address and create a password. To get two more votes (for a grand total of 5), enter your Twitter handle (if you have one) and your Facebook URL.
Anthony McKernan, Development Director at Five Talents UK, recently returned from a trip to Uganda, where Five Talents is setting up a new program in Kitgum.
During his trip, Anthony met Ismael (pictured above), who sells charcoal to support his family. Ismael buys wholesale and sells in smaller quantities in the outskirts of Kampala. He is currently on his third loan cycle.
Earlier this month, Five Talents Uganda's Program Director, Esther Nakamatte (L), participated in a special service with the Most Rev Rowan Williams (R), Archbishop of Canterbury, in St George's Camberwell in London.
The event was organized to mark International Women's Day and Mothers Day and was sponsored by the Anglican Alliance. Esther plays a key role in one of Five Talents' most established programs, which is currently expanding to the area of Kitgum at the invitation of the Anglican Bishop, The Rt. Rev. Benjamin Ojwang.
The area was once controlled by the warlord Joseph Kony, the subject of the viral "Stop Kony" campaign that has been sweeping the globe. Benjamin Ojwang was himself abducted once during Uganda's more than 20 years of conflict.
Are you looking for something inspiring to share on your Facebook page?
We recently posted a slideshow to our YouTube and Vimeo pages that explains our mission and shares the remarkable story of Joy in Uganda – a woman who used a $150 loan to start a brick-making business. She literally turned mud into money, creating an enterprise that now employs 13 people and is providing not just for her own family, but for other families in her community as well.
The slideshow also contains updated numbers about the fight against extreme poverty in the developing world.
In 1981, about 50 percent of the world lived on less than $1.25 a day, according to the World Bank. Today, new estimates suggest that about 17 percent of the world finds itself in that category. Extreme poverty has been cut in half over the last 30 years, and Five Talents is committed to contributing to this positive trend by equipping business-savvy women and men with small loans, business skill training and spiritual support in order to help them grow their micro-businesses into sustainable enterprises.
One of the key verses reads that the master gave talents to his servants "...each according to his ability." This phrase – "each according to his ability" – contains a liberating message for the poor, and also for ourselves. This Gospel reading suggests that we are made in the image of God and, therefore, all of us have value and gifts to use for ourselves, our families and our communities.
Five Talents is built on this belief. The poor have value and can be empowered to tap their own unique gifts and abilities to create a better life. When Five Talents began 11 years ago, words like sustainability, economic empowerment, and self-supporting churches were just beginning to be whispered. Now these words are being shouted from every corner of the world.
I dare say Five Talents has helped to lead that conversation as a means of growing God's Kingdom.
"I was there for a three-week trip and then I came home and I said I would never go back. The food was terrible, and it was hot and muggy and gross." After a pause, he added, "and so the next summer I was back there, conducting research for my mater's thesis [at Georgetown]."
Maggiano told his story at a forum on Five Talents and its partnerships held on the VTS campus on September 13. Five Talents CEO Craig Cole and Director of Philanthropy Mary Beth Campbell (pictured here) were invited to speak at the event, before taking questions from students in attendance.
Feb 7, 2011 Business as Mission Network By Dan King
Bob Larson is the President of Reynolds Food Packaging, an industry leader in the production and sale of a full range of stock and custom products for the foodservice, supermarket, food processor and agricultural markets. He was also recently elected to the Board of Directors for Five Talents International, an organization that is fighting global poverty through microfinance and education.
Every week, we do our best to tell you the story of Five Talents, its mission, and the communities where we work.
Grey Maggiano, a student at 
